
Qass "FT 7.. fTG 

Book sh^ 



OEATION 



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DELIVERED JULY 4Tn, 18 5 1, 



(75th Year of our National Independence, 



BY CAPTAIN ISAIAH RYNDERS, 



BEFORE THE 



OLD GUARD, 



AT THEIE AN]SrUAL FESTIVAL, 



THE GEM HOTEL, 321 BROADWAY. 




NEW YORK: 

PRINTED BY C. C. GUILDS, 178 FULTON STREET. 
1851. 






r' 



ORATION. 



Fellow Countrymen : — You have assem- j 
bled for the glorious purpose of celebrating the 
anniversary of American Independence — a day 
held sacred in the estimation of every one who 
loves his country. It is so held, because it is a 
day on which our nation dates her era of Free- 
dom, and points to it with pride and exultation, 
as the noblest achievement ever accomplished 
by human wisdom, intellect and bravery. It is 
a day which, under any circumstances, excites 
the ■vt'armest and noblest emotions of our hearts ; 
but under the present aspect of our political 
affairs, when danger seems to threaten us, it is 
a day which should, and I trust will, inspire 
every American heart, with a patriotism, and a 
devotion to the Union and the Constitution, as 
pure as the light of living truth. And I trust 
that the fire of Liberty and Patriotism may 
ever burn as ardently in the hearts of the 
American people, and that their fidelity and at- 
tachment to the Constitution and the Union 
may be as true and unwavering, as unchanged 
and as unchanging, as the great luminary of day 
in his course through the heavens. 

It is now three-quarters of a century since a 
small but noble band of Patriots met together, 
under the most trying circumstances, to pro- 
claim to the world that they were, and of right 
ought to be independent ; and the still greater 
principle, that man is capable of self-government. 
This, my friends, was no vain boast, or idle 
declaration ; but a high and holy resolve of 
brave and patriotic men, who pledged " their 
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors" 
for the faithful execution of their patriotic 
declaration, or were determined to perish in the 
attempt. With a firm reliance on the justice of 
the cause, and the protection of Divine Provi- 
dence, they launched the glorious Bark of Free- 
dom, with a gallant crew, and our own noble 
and godlike Washington for a Pilot. He con- 
ducted them through a perilous voyage of seven 



years, with a fidelity, patience, and perseve- 
rance, which almost justifies the belief that he 
was gifted with attributes more than human. 

I will not, as is customary on like occasions, 
revert in detail to the many privations and 
hardships which had to be endured duiing the 
revolutionary struggle. It v.'ould be superflu- 
ous to speak to you of the many brave but de- 
termined battles fought by the friends of inde- 
pendence, and in many instances with signal suc- 
cess, by a small but determined band of half- 
clad, and half- fed soldiery, against a well- disci- 
plined troop; or of the numerous cases of indi- 
vidual heroism performed during the Revolu- 
tion. The history of the times is full of evi- 
dences that prove that a spirit had been 
awakened, that the fire of Liberty and Freedom 
had been kindled, and could not be smothered 
by the power of an army of hired soldiery, 
which has ever been the instruments by which 
tyrants have perpetrated their outrages against 
the rights and liberties of the mass of the peo- 
ple. 

But these things are matters of history, and I 
strenuously recommend to my countrymen a 
careful perusal of the history of the revolution, 
with the hope that the noble and glorious ex- 
amples of patriotism and fidelity of our fore- 
fathers, which are therein portrayed, may yet 
awaken the lingering sparks of the fire of free- 
dom, which, I trust, is not entirely quenched in 
the hearts of the American people. Though I 
fear, that, in these times, when public patriot- 
ism is at its lowest ebb, that the noble exam- 
ples of our forefathers have been, in a measure, 
lost upon many of their sons of the present 
day, and that we are becoming more unworthy 
of the glorious inheritance which they have 
bequeathed us. I fear we do not properly esti- 
mate the great sacrifice which it cost to achieve 
our independence : nor do we properly appre- 
ciate the invaluable blessings which are derived 



from it ; because we have not experienced 
the hardships and perils which had to be en- 
countered to accomplish that glorious result. 
We are now enjoying an age of prosperity and 
happiness unequalled by any coteinporay na- 
tion. While we have been' a prosperous repub- 
lic other nations have experienced bloody revo- 
lutions ; monarchies liave been overthrown, or 
left tottering on a basis ready to crumble into 
ruins upon the commencement of a struggle on 
the part of the down-trodden masses to throw 
off the yoke of despotism which has so long 
been fastened upon them. While all Europe 
has been convulsed with foreign wars and civil 
commotions, the United States has steadily pro- 
gressed in her march of civilization, and has 
concentrated within her republican borders all 
the elements of national and individual hapj)!- 
ness. 

It maj' be regarded, that in the nineteenth 
century of the Christian era, the free, indepen- 
dent, and intelligent people of the United States 
have solved a problem that some of the greatest 
minds that ever lived have firmly believed ne- 
ver would be solved affirmatively. Were it not 
for the successful experiment of this Republic, 
for three-quarters of a century, the great majo- 
rity of the world, at the present day, would 
have firmly adhered to the opinion that man is 
incapable of self-government. The human 
mind is so organized, and the vices of society 
are so numerous, that even with our successful 
experiment, a large portion of the human race, 
regard the great problem as still unsolved. True 
it is that we have existed but a brief period in the 
history of nations. But we have grown with 
such an astonishing rapidity in numbers, power, 
and wealth, that our progress and example have 
astonished the world. Our advancement has 
even astonished ourselves, and exceeded a point 
far beyond the most sanguinary expectations of 
those brave patriots who periled their lives in 
the cause of our independence. We have, from 
a few dependent colonies, become the rival in 
commercial and manufacturing })ursuits of the 
greatest nations on the globe. In every such 
respect our position is a commanding one among 
the nations of the earth ; and second to none in 
influence, power, and all the natural resources 
which constitute a great people. Wherever 
civilization has extended, and commerce peneti'a- 
ted, there our great name is known and respect- 
ed. Our sails whiten every sea, and the glo- 
rious flag of our country — the star-spangled 
banner — the very name of which causes every 
American heart to beat with patriotic emotions. 



and swell with gratitude, afTords a protection to 
our countrymen in the remotest corners of the 
globe. The respect for our name, and our 
country's flag, can only be maintained so long 
as we show ourselves a united people, and con- 
tinue to cherish an attachment for the Constitu- 
tion and the Union. 

Upon this point I would respectfully solicit 
the attention of my countrymen. I would ask 
them to reflect, to give the subject a profound 
and serious consideration. I do this, fellow- 
citizens, because the present aspect of our po- 
litical afl^airs, and the sectional asperity which 
exists among us, urgently demand that all w'ho 
feel a solicitude for the perpetuity of our gov- 
ernment, and the welfare of our people, should 
examine carefully every great question, the de- 
cision of which involves our prosperity, if not 
our very existence. 

I would ask, then, whence did we derive our 
unparalleled condition of happiness and general 
advancement of all that distinguishes us as a great 
and powerful nation ? How did we acquire our 
commanding position, in so brief a period among 
the great nations of the earth ? Whence f omes 
that sudden power which causes the hearts of 
the patriots, in every part of the world, to look 
to our country's flag with such deep veneration 
and almost unbounded respect ? And why is 
it that even monarchical and despotic powers in 
every quarter of the world regard us as a for- 
midable rival, able to enforce protection to our 
interests on land and water, at home or in a 
foreign clime ? These are pertinent questions, 
my friends, calculated to lead to serious reflec- 
tion. Did we derive all this power and respect 
of which I have been speaking from the great 
State of Pennsylvania, the "keystone," as she 
is termed of the Federal arch, rich in her agri- 
cultural resources, in her mines and in her ma- 
nufacturies ? Did we derive the power and in- 
fluence from the great State of New York, 
termed the " Empire State," rich in agricultural 
and commercial resources ? These Slates are 
great only as portions of a large estate, as mem- 
bers of a powerful family, whose safety depends 
upon union and brotherly fraternity among those 
who compose it. Is it the great grain-growing 
States of the West ; the Southern States, rich in 
their valuable and magnificent staple produc- 
tions ; or the enterprising manufacturing States 
of the East, from which much of our greatness is 
derived ? No, my friends, our power and great- 
ness come from none of these separately. Our 
commanding position is due to no section exclu- 
sively. Our powerful influence grows out of our 



Union, as one people, united under the aegis of 
our Constitution and the union of States. Un- 
der our confederacy we have enjoyed religious 
and political liberty to a greater extent than any 
other nation. If we wish to continue our 
career of glory and power we can only do so un- 
der the same auspices as heretofore. We must 
continue under the protection of the Union and 
the Constitution. 

This is a proper time for all true friends of 
our Union to manifest their devotion to it, and 
to the Constitution. I am no alarmist ; but it 
would be wrong to withhold the opinion that 
there is danger of a dissolution of the Union. 
No work of man bears upon it the marks of a 
never-ending existence. Our hope, and our 
benediction is, that it may be perpetual. Our 
duty is to do all in our power to prolong its ex- 
istence while we are members of the commu- 
nity, enjoying its advantages ; and each genera- 
tion should transmit it to the next without a 
link severed that binds it together. Every 
friend of the Union should repudiate, by words 
and actions, every attempt to agitate questions 
which tend to diminish the respect and con- 
fidence that should be cherished between the 
people of different sections, having different 
interests of a pecuniary or business character. 
Enemies of our form of government are fre- 
quently found among us; coming generally 
from abroad, they embrace the opportunity of 
alienating our people by attacking with viru- 
lence the institution of African slavery. They 
are assisted in these attacks by the fanatics of 
our own land. Against all these fanatical en- 
thusiasts, or hypocritical pretenders, our people 
must take a firm and resolute stand, or we may 
hasten the period when this mighty Union of 
free and independent States will be broken into 
many petty and insignificant governments, in 
which the people will have their sectional pre- 
judices, and antagonistical feelings and interests, 
ending, sooner or later, into so many petty mo- 
narchies, or despotisms, in which human rights 
and liberties will no longer exist. The expe- 
rience and the history of the past admonish us 
that such would be the inevitable result. Break 
this glorious Union into fragments, rend asunder 
this magnificent structure of Republican Gov- 
ernment, and I know of no rule in logic, or 
principle in human nature, by which we can 
reasonably hope to reunite the fragmentary por- 
tions upon an enduring basis. Once dissolved, 
and none will be so blind as not to see that we 
have lost a valuable and priceless blessing. We 
may underestimate its value now ; but when 



we have parted with the noble inheritance we 
will soon be in a condition to regret the mad- 
ness of the act. 

Now is the time, my countrymen, when a 
speck of danger appears in our political horizon, 
for every admirer of the Union, to guard against 
its growth, to check it in its incipient stage, and 
resolve to continue to fulfill the destiny which 
the patriots and sages of the revolution marked 
out for us through a seven years' struggle amid 
perils and privations, the recital of which 
makes humanity shudder. Let not our great 
Republic be arrested in its brilliant career ; let 
not all our bright and glorious anticipations of 
the future be stayed in the madness of a disso- 
lution of the Union; let not the sun of Ame- 
rican liberty set before it has half attained the 
zenith of its glory, and thus blast the prospects 
of millions of the human race. Shall we 
rashly endanger or destroy the liberty and hap- 
piness of a large portion of the family of man, 
and eventually, perhaps, of the whole civilized 
world, to gratify the morbid philanthropy of a 
few fanatical minds, who see no evil in any- 
thing but negro slavery, and no good in any- 
thing but abolitionism ? While millions of our 
own race are suffering the most abject and de- 
grading poverty, and have a hopeful eye cast 
towards our comparatively happy land and free 
institutions, shall we, in the madness of the 
hour, arrest these hopes by severing the link 
that binds together so many independent States 
into one great and prosperous Union ? No, my 
friends ! never ! Yet, if such is not the direct 
object and purpose of abolitionism, of those 
mad fanatics whose only object is to force the 
South to abandon the institution at their bid- 
ding, no matter what the danger to both races 
may be, it will be the inevitable result of suc- 
cess on their part. There is no excuse for 
these fanatics. If they abhor slavery, let them 
strike a blow at the slavery of their own race 
first. Seek to relieve the destitution and misery 
of the white laboring classes, and leave the 
well-fed, and generally well-treated, African 
slave in the South to the management of those 
who are by law held responsible for their wel- 
fare. The white slaves, the poor white la- 
borers of the greater part of Europe, and many 
portions of America — the United States in- 
cluded — are not treated with as much hu- 
manity as the negro slaves of the South. Our 
abolition philanthropists have not moved a step 
towards their amelioration. Our white bre- 
thren have certainly all the God-like attributes 
which adorn the human character, and it 



6 



generally admitted that our own race are 
superior to the negro ; and the morality 
or philanthropy of those mad-brained hypo- 
crites, enthusiasts, or monomaniacs, who would 
rend the Union asunder to abolish the slavery 
of the latter, which is quite well fed, at least, 
and leave the slavery of the former in all its 
hideousness, is a proof that their charity, bene- 
volence, and love is confined only to those whom 
the Creator has enveloped in a black skin. It is 
a preference for color, and wholly disregards the 
mental, moral, or physical attributes of our own 
race. There is a principle firmly seated in 
the human mind, repugnant to slavery in any 
form, or of any race of men. This principle 
is perhaps more active in the United States 
than in any other country. But the Almighty 
has created different races of men with dif- 
ferent degrees of intellect, and the whole civi- 
lized world is just emerging from the state 
of slavery. The habiliments of slavery are yet 
worn by four-fifths of the human race, of all 
colors, and in nearly every country on the globe. 
The miseries of this servile condition of man, 
without any regard to color, are not seen in the 
United Slates to that extent they are in other 
countries. Nominally it may be aboli.shed in 
some other countries, but practically it exists in 
the most horrid condition. As a recognized in- 
stitution' in the Southern States, it has been 
forced upon them before the States had an inde- 
pendent existence. Having grown to such mag- 
nitude its abolition must of necessity be the work 
of time, aided by more favorable circumstances 
than are at present existing. Wisdom and 
justice must direct the movements that look to 
its abolition. The North has nothing to do 
with it. The institution is local, and State 
power is the only agent that can act in the 
matter. 

In a social point of view, my friends, I have 
had .some experience of the institution of 
Southern slavery. I have lived in the several 
sections of our Union, and have had an oppor- 
tunity of judging of that social sympathy and 
connection between the employer and employ- 
ed, capitalist and laborer, master and slave. I 
am satisfied that there is more friendly feeling 
more social communion, more real sympathy, 
existing between the master and slave than 
there is between the rich capitalist of our north- 
ern and eastern cities and the laborers they em- 
ploy. I firmly believe there is more social 
equality between the former than between the 
latter. The capitalists in the Free States seldom 
associate with the laborers. There is no inter 



mingling between the rich and the poor. They 
appear in fact to be almost distinct races of 
men and women. The rich man may meditate 
an attack upon the virtue of an industrious 
woman, and have social intercourse that he 
may accomplish his baser purposes ; or he may, 
if he is a candidate for some lucrative or honor- 
able office, condescend to be very sociable with 
a poor man just about the time of an election ; 
but for all the nobler objects of mutual sym- 
pathy and common improvement, they are 
strangers to each other — the one is master and 
the other slave. I distinctly and unhesitatingly 
declare that this condition of the majority of 
Northern laborers is worse than that of the 
Southern slaves. 

Under all these circumstances, without a 
single sentiment or feeling in favor of the 
slavery of any race, or color, I have never been 
able to perceive any really well directed human- 
ity or philanthropy in the movements of the 
abolitionists. If they are sincere they are 
nevertheless deluded and wrong. It is our duty, 
as friends of the Union, as friends of freedom, of 
liberty, of humanity, to defeat their schemes 
by every practicable effort consistent with 
the object in view. They endanger the Union, 
and thereby endanger the liberty of both races. 
They strike a blow at human happiness that 
would be fatal, if not foiled by the strong arm 
of public patriotism and justice. Some of our 
countrymen may think differently, and they 
may merit our respect even though differing on 
so important a question, but their principles 
should be condemned in solemn and serious 
earnest, or this Union may be dissolved and our 
liberties lost. I would not prevent a free ex- 
pression of sentiment upon any subject that 
may be embraced within the limits of legiti- 
mate political controversy; for it is this right 
that I now exercise in denouncing abolitionism. 
But those who declare that they would glory in 
the dissolution of this Union, if negro slavery is 
not immediately abolished, I regard as madmen. 
Such language is treasonable, and in my view 
of the case no man has a right to promulgate 
such sentiments. The foreigner who comes 
among us to promote agitation on this subject, 
who leaves behind him millions of his own 
race in a starving condition, and travels many 
thousand miles to change the social condition of 
a race that is comparatively well cared for, 
must have curious ideas of philanthropy. We 
know of no principle in human nature that 
should induce a man to visit this country and 
denounce the institution of well-fed black 



slavery, and leave white slavery in a state of 
starvation at home. The practice of such a 
man is hypocritical and villanous. He preaches 
philanthropy where it is least needed, and 
winks at the most abject and deplorable poverty 
among his own children. His sympathy is ex- 
pended among strangers, while his own house- 
hold is clothed in rags, and the images of his 
Maker that surround his own fireside have put 
on skeleton forms. His children have no 
bread ; yet he is in a distant land sympathizing 
with the condition of the sleek and well-fed 
African, to whom all physical want is a total 
stranger. This is an erring philanthropy, a 
morbid propensity that is anything but com- 
mendable. 

I may say to you, my friends, in all sincerity, 
that I coincide with that very common opinion, 
which asserts that even the evils of African 
slavery, as it exists in the Southern States, will 
be the most effectually removed by abstaining 
from any interference with it on our part. If 
a blow is to be aimed at it, let it be directed by 
those who have the right to strike, and not by 
us, who have it not among us. Our interference 
tends but to aggravate its evils, and to rend the 
Union asunder ; a calamity far greater than 
any other which could befall our happy country. 

I am aware that I am discussing a subject 
that has been analyzed by the great statesmen 
of the country, and the argument has been ex- 
hausted by the purest and ablest minds of the 
day. But it is one which, above all others, in- 
volves the happiness and prosperity of the 
Union. If after all that has been said on this 
subject, and the experience derived from the 
history of former Republics, the people are still 
deaf to the voice of reason, to the patriotic ap- 
peals of their wisest and best men, in favor of 
the Constitution and the Union, then it would 
seem that there is little hope for the perpetuity 
of our institutions ; and we would be compelled 
to exclaim that we are the degenerate sons of 
noble sires ; that they bequeathed us a noble in- 
heritance that we lost by our folly and imbe- 
cility. 

We are often told there is no danger of a dis- 
solution of the Union. This is a very common 
and natural expression. It is, in fact, a com- 
mendable one, as it must generally emanate 
from those who love the Union, and cannot har- 
bor the thought that this mighty fabric, that has 
commanded the admiration of the world, will 
be torn down by the hands or madness of the 
very men whose rights it protects. It is, there- 
fore, generally a deep and earnest love for this 



Union that induces the expression, " there is no 
danger of its dissolution." But to the more 
philosophic minds, who have looked more pro- 
foundly into the causes of things, who have read 
more attentively the history of the past, who 
have studied the motives attd actions of the hu- 
man mind, this Union, like all other works of 
human wisdom or folly, contains within itself 
the very elements of decay. True it is that it 
is the best form of government the world ever 
saw, and with prudence and wisdom its perpe- 
tuity would be handed down through centuries 
of unborn generations. It is a duty incumbent 
on us to transmit it to our successors unimpair- 
ed. We should indignantlj' frown upon all those 
vvho give to the Constitution, that sacred instru- 
ment that binds us together, a visionary construc- 
tion, whether upon principles of " higher laiv,''^ or 
" lower law." The eloquent warning of the Fa- 
ther of our country, admonishes us to accustom 
ourselves to think and speak of our Constitution 
and Union as the palladium of our liberties, our 
political safety and prosperity ; and that there is 
good reason to distrust those who may endeavor 
by any means to weaken the ties that bind us 
together into one common bond of brotherhood. 
The diversified interests of a country, so great in 
area, is inevitable ; but the general protection of 
the whole, by a common charter defining the 
powers of the national government, by direct 
expression or by necessary implication, far more 
than counterbalances any and all evils that in- 
evitably result frrm so many different interests 
which exist in the several sections of the Union. 
Those demagogues and fanatics who tell us there 
is a "higher law" than this sacred charter, that 
would justify us in disregarding its obligations, 
tell us plainly that we must dissojve the Union. 
Such would be the inevitable tendency of fol- 
lowing the dictates of such men. It is these 
men against whom the immortal Washington 
admonished his countrymen to beware, and to 
treat as enemies of our liberties. They are the 
insiduous foes to our Union, and should be 
denounced by all true friends of the Constitu- 
tion. 

As no human law or government is free from 
defects, it would be folly to expect perfection in 
the organization of our government or adminis- 
tration of the laws of the Union. But our re- 
publican form of government, and the general 
liberality of our institutions and laws seem 
to be as near perfection as it is possible for hu- 
man wisdom to approach. We should, there- 
fore, be cautious of the bold and reckless inno- 
vator upon a system so nearly replete with all 



the great principles of liberty and equality, and 
under which the great mass of the people enjoy 
more happiness than under any other govern- 
ment on the globe. It is only after mature re- 
flection, and at the suggestion of the wisest and 
best minds, that any changes in the fundamental 
laws of the Union should be made. How ab- 
surd, then, it is for men holding high positions, 
to declare that there is a "higher law" existing! 
in the minds of individuals, though wanting en- 1 
tirely the form of law, that we are bound to 
obey, though the great charter of our liberties 
be violated. 

Now, in conclusion, my friends, I would sin- 
cerely admonish you, and all my countryman, 
North, South, East and West, that this question 
of Southern slavery must be let alone by North- 
ern men. I tell you that in the present con- 
dition of the world, the degree of advancement I 
of the human intellect, it is not entitled to half 
that importance which Northern fanatics attach 
to it. I unhesitatingly declare that, in my opi- 
nion, the Southern States have as much right, 
under the Constitution, to say that we of the 
North shall establish slavery among us, as that 
we have to say that they shall abolish it in the 
South. If this is a true view of the case, and 
I firmly believe it is, then none of us can fail 
to see that we have no right to meddle with 
the institution of slavery in the South. But if 
we had the right to abolish it ; or if the South 
were willing to abolish it themselves, as a 
friend of the human race, without any regard 
to color, I confess that I should fear the result. 
Why, then, by a series of aggressions upon 



Southern rights, by a continual agitation of this 
subject in the North^tlo we irritate tlV^outh. or 
endanger the Union? I trust, in all that sin- 
cerity with which one man can address another, 
that our people will meet the crisis as men of 
intelligence and patriotism ; and that instead of 
a dissolution of the Union, the time is not far 
distant when it will embrace within its e.x- 
I tended borders every foot of land on the con- 
tinent o^ North America. But, if, notwith- 
standing all the warnings of patriotic men in 
different sections of the Union, it be found ne- 
cessary to take a bolder stand against the fanat- 
ical m'miii who keep up a continual agitation 
of this subject, it is my ardent hope, that if this 
crisis arises there will be a gathering of true 
and patriotic hearts from the North, the South, 
the East and the West ; from the border State 
I of Maine, the granite hills of New Hampshire, 
from the lake bound shores of the Empire State • 
from the rich agricultural, mining, and manu- 
facturing districts of the Keystone State ; from 
the hills and valleys of old Maryland and Vir- 
ginia, the mother of States; from the planta- 
tions of the extreme South; from the wild 
prairies of the great and mighty west, and last, 
though not least, from the golden shores of the 
new Slate of California, washed by the placid 
waters of the mighty Pacific. It is our ardent 
hope that they will all meet on one common 
platform, and send forth a shout that shall be 
heard from one extremity of the Union to the 
other, proclaiming with one united voice that 
^'•Ihis Union must and shall be jn-cserved^ 



